Rehabilitaion
by SuperGirl
Summary: Willow recovers with the help of a vampire.
1. Withdrawal

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[A/N, I do not own the characters, I'm just borrowing them.

This is the prologue of what will be a series involving Willow's recovery, with the help of Spike. S/W? Just wait and see!]

Spike was wandering the streets under the light of a quarter moon when a sound behind him. Turning, he saw a figure standing a few feet behind him, their frail form shaking in the warm night. 

"Hello?" he said to the person, walking towards them. When he got closer, he could see the face clearly. "Red?" 

Willow was standing in the street, her eyes red, as if she had been crying, but there was no sign of any tears, in fact, her eyes looked completely dry. Her lips were cracked and blood was starting to form, and her hands shook wildly. Spike stepped right in front of her, but her eyes just looked past him, as if she was watching something behind him.

"Willow?" he said softly. Her eyes moved slowly to land on his face, but he could tell she wasn't registering his presence. Her breath was coming short and ragged now. Finally, she seemed to register what was going on. 

"Spike, I don'tI can't" as her mind fought to pick the right word, her body gave out on her, and Spike caught her before she hit the ground.

An hour later, he watched her sleep in his crypt. Every now and then she whimpered and kicked off her sheets, but then she'd start shivering and Spike would cover her again. Her fitful sleep was keeping him from getting in touch with Buffy, someone he should have called first. He began to pace his crypt, contemplating what to do with her. She was obviously going through a bad withdrawal from the heavy magic she had been playing with and needed help, but he doubted any doctors or hospitals would know what to do.

"NO!" she screamed suddenly. Spike whipped around to see Willow sitting bolt upright, breathing fast and sweating. She looked around her, and her wide green eyes finally rested on Spike who was watching her. "Spike?" 

He moved to her, sitting on the edge of the bed, "how do you feel?" 

She hugged her knees close to her body before replying, "I thought I was going to die. Every part of my body was on fire, but icy cold at the same time. What's wrong with me?"

"You're going through withdrawal, from the magic. It's heavy stuff and it stays with you even if you've left it. We're going to help you though, we all will."

"Where's Buffy?" Willow asked, realizing for the first time that she was alone in the crypt. 

"I didn't get a chance to go find her, I wanted to be here in case you woke up and needed something. Do you need anything?"

"Water?" she asked, looking up at him. Spike nodded and got off the bed.

"I'll go grab some and stop by Buffy's if you want, let her know where you are" his voice trailed off as she shook her head. 

"Don't tell her what happened. Tell hertell her I'm here, but don't tell her why, alright? She'll worry and I don't want her to worry. She's got too much on her mind I think. She's been somewhere else recently but I don't know why."

A smile tugged at Spike's lips but he kept it to himself. So the slayer had him on her mind, no surprise there. Instead, he nodded to Willow before walking outside.


	2. Addictions

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[A/N, I do not own the characters, I'm just borrowing them]

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. 

The girl beside Willow glared at her, and she quickly dropped the pencil, letting it roll off the desk. As she reached down to pick it up, she caught sight of Tara sitting two rows down. Straightening, her eyes never left the back of her ex-girlfriend. After a minute, Tara turned and the two made eye contact. Tara's eyes lingered a second, before going back to the professor. 

After class, Willow made her way quickly down the aisle to where Tara was.

"Tara! Hey!" she said, smiling. The other witch barely looked up.

"Buffy told me what you did," was all she said, grabbing her bag and left the classroom quickly. Willow watched her leave, unable to form words. 

Slowly, she left the class, wanting nothing more then to jump off a bridge.

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What if I did? She thought, _would anyone care? _She played with the thought in her mind as she walked across campus. She thought of all the different ways of doing it, and the possible reactions of her friends. Would she get a special spot in the graveyard like Buffy did? Or would no one bother to find her body? 

She approached the Summer's residence and stared up the walkway to the house. At that moment, the last people she felt like seeing were her friends. Dawn still wasn't talking to her and Buffy was still cold, especially after she hadn't come home the other night. She had tried to convince her that no magic was involved, and even though she claimed she did, Willow was sure Buffy didn't believe her. After contemplating for a moment, she turned away from the house.

It was just after nine pm when Spike left his crypt. He always patrolled this time of night because he knew it was when Buffy did the same. It had been 2 days since Willow had stayed at his place and he wanted to make sure she was ok. At least, that's what he was telling himself. 

He hadn't been walking the streets for 5 minutes, when he smelled her. The smell he had fallen in love with was coming from a spot just a few meters in front of him. He walked up quietly, hoping to scare her. She was cutest when she was mad.

He crept up slowly behind a large tree and peered around. What he saw made his heart feel as if she had dropped a large weight on it. Buffy was sitting on the porch of the Espresso Pump, talking to a tall, good-looking, well built guy, around the same age as she was. He wasn't a vamp, if he was, Spike would have been able to tell. He was a regular guy, and Buffy was flirting with him. From the looks of it, they were on a date. 

"His name is Kyle," said a voice behind him. 

"Bloody hell, red," he said, "don't do that!" Willow grinned at him, but it faded when she saw how hurt he was.

"I didn't know he asked her out. She just met him yesterday; he's the older brother of one of Dawn's friends. I'm sorry you had to find out this way." Spike shrugged.

"I didn't expect her to fall in love with me or anything," he said, "I just thought I meant something to her." Willow's brows furrowed in confusion. "She didn't tell you then?" he said, a smile playing on his lips. Willow shook her head slowly, still looking very confused. "Buffy and I did a little one-on-one slaying if you know what I mean." It took a minute, but when it clicked, Willow's eyes went wide.

"You and Buffyyou hadI mean you?" Spike nodded to urge her along, "but when?"

"Last week, the night you had your fun with rat-girl at the Bronze," Willow gaped at him, "but I guess it doesn't matter now. Now that she's found her new boy-toy. I pity him, I really do. He'll give her all he has and then he'll walk all over his heart, not caring whether it hurts him or not." He turned back to Buffy and Kyle who were looking pretty cozy talking over coffee.

"Looks like we've both got our addictions to fight," Willow commented, following his gaze. 


End file.
